Interpreting the Past: People
This collection of property records turn out to be a great starting place for social histories of small town people, particularly those wealthy enough to record land contracts and inheritances in writing.
A diverse cast of characters appear in both the will and sasines. Most documents named at least six to eight individuals and include family and social relationships, places of residence, and, in some cases, professions to reveal personal and professional networks around Linlithgow and Bathgate, Scotland for the sasines and across Great Britian for Sir George’s will.
Family Networks
Families were important – particularly parents and children, in both types of document. Mothers and fathers, wives
and husbands, sons and daughters both alive and dead were repeatedly mentioned – with emphasis on their ‘laufull’ or legal status.
WENTWORTH WILL FISHER SASINE
Sir George Wentworth John Fisher of Torphichen Mill
Wife — Dame Anne Wentworth Father – John Fisher, d.
Eldest Son — William Wentworth Grandfather – Robert Fisher d.
Younger Son — Ruishe Wentworth ???? – Agnes Fisher
Daughter — Elizabeth Wentworth Landlord – William Ker,
Baron of Mauel-Foulis
One 1699 saisine (Document 14) documents John Fisher, son of the deceased John Fisher, a miller, and grandson of Robert Fisher who claims lands and tenants in the Barony of Manuel Foulis (Crownerland).
An Agnes Fisher is listed as a tenant. Was she related?
Other sasines name wives, daughters, and daughters-in-law as landowners and tenants.
Putting the documents together can add to the family tree. The elder John Fisher in 1679 (Document 16) deeded half his land and rents in the Barony to his wife, Margaret Whitlaw – presumably the younger John Fisher’s mother.
Family Trees
For the gentry, questions of bloodlines and inheritance were important considerations. The will of Sir George Wentworth shows how one member of that class saw fit to distribute his goods and possessions to his wife and children after his death, and his social network which produced the executors. But who were these people, and how can we find out?
Here’s a partial family tree showing Sir George Wentworth’s immediate family, and persons named in the will.
On the Wentworth side, the family is related by blood or marriage to several titled English families, including the Saviles, mainly from northern England where they are based. Many men were politically and militarily active (sometimes at risk to their lives). Sir George’s marriage to the Ruishe’s extended his network to Ireland (where he served King Charles) and Kent, in southeast England. Relatives moved to the US, where several held political office.
This single page is the result of over 20 hours of online research that included a Wentworth family history, family genealogies, books on British peerages, grave site online databases, English and Irish probate records, ancestry.com family trees, and more. There were at least two “Sir George” Wentworths in York in this time period, so many “official” sources are quite confused about parentage and children. J. Dym
There is no known portrait of Sir George, who is not as notorious as his brother Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford. Thomas was an adviser of England’s King Charles I, later impeached and executed by Parliament.
Anthony van Dyck,The Earl of Stafford
with his Secretary, S. Philip Mainwaring (1639-1640). (Private Collection)
Yet the connection to Thomas was helpful. We can (we believe) find traces of George in Thomas’ published correspondence. This 1636 letter from Thomas to his wife announces his brother’s marriage to “Mistress Ruishee.” This small, specific mention a seems to confirm the identity of Sir George’s wife, Dame Anne Wentworth. Sources such as Burke’s Peerage, and other genealogical databases say Sir George’s wife’s name is Frances.
Confirming the Ruishe connection also makes sense of the will: George’s third son is “Ruishee,” his wife’s family name. Anne is the daughter of Francis Ruishee of Castle Jordan, County Meath, Ireland, and his heir. So when George gave his son William twice the money he left to Ruishe, it presumably was with the understanding that Ruishe might inherit more from his mother’s side of the family.
Professional Responsibilities
We also identified several professions – both people who had a role in creating a legal document in the seventeenth century and a host of other occupations. Many occupations named were for legal professions.
Legal Actors
WENTWORTH WILL FISHER SASINE
Executors
Dame Anne Wentworth, wife William Bell, clerk, notary public
Sir George Savile, great nephew Robert Bell, writer
Francis Colley, friend/servant John Eiston, procurator, lawyer
William Chadwell , ??? William Ker, landowner
Alexr. Craufurd, portioner, d.
Thomas Brown., portioner, d.
Patrick Shaw, landowner
John Finlay, tenant
Agnes Fisher, tenant?
Working the Land
The land grants provide a good sense of some of the professions exercised in the Scottish countryside or in small towns. In addition to men of letters and men of the law, we read about land owners and tenants. Portioner.
A few of the sasines mention millers (mlyner) and require the person working the land to supply grain to a local mill. Witnes xxx is identifed as being a tailor (taylor) ?? Others.
Do you recognize professions or responsibilities that are still in use today?
